Personal history: Charlie and Renee were not married for very long. Their daughter, Bella, was born in September of 1987 and they were divorced by March of 1989. (TL) The fact that Charlie didn’t follow Renee when she left was about so much more than a job. Charlie’s parents were both still alive, but just barely, when he and Renee met. He was responsible for caring for them. He didn’t choose Forks, he chose his responsibility to his sick parents. (PC10) Although he has now been divorced for seventeen years, he has never really gotten over his ex-wife. (TW1)

When she was little, Bella would come to visit for one month in the summer. When she was fourteen, she put her foot down and required vacations elsewhere with her father. They usually went to California. When Renee remarried, Bella felt the need to give her mom some time alone with her new husband and went to live with Charlie in Forks. Charlie did everything he could to make Bella feel at home, even buying her a car. (TW1)

After Bella disappears to Phoenix and comes back more than a little bruised, Charlie holds a slightly negative opinion of Edward, but it wasn’t until he deserted Bella in September of 2005 that Charlie began to feel something close to hatred. (TWEp – NM22) Charlie does his best to help Bella after Edward’s sudden departure, but he doesn’t know what to do. (NM17) And, besides Bella’s “zombie-like” behavior, he has a string of apparent animal attacks to deal with. Charlie helps lead groups of hunters through the forest of Forks searching for the massive “black wolf” they think is killing hikers. (NM12) After Bella comes back from Italy, Charlie grounds her, but when Jacob shows up with her motorcycle… (NMEp)